Rediscovery

By Ariel Tachna

Visiting the dealers room at the Houston Gay Gamers convention, Michael Donovan’s attention is caught by a booth featuring leather wear and fetish gear. Though he’s never been drawn to that lifestyle, he can’t deny his attraction to the handsome man staffing the booth, especially when he sees Lee helping to entertain another vendor’s young children. Lee soon makes it clear the attraction is mutual, but can Michael move past his preconceptions about Lee’s wares and get to know the man himself?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
• Release date: Feb 9, 2011
• ISBN: 9781615818471

Ariel Tachna

Ariel Tachna is a polyglot linguaphile with a passion for travel, yarn, orchids, and romance. She has explored 45 states and 13 countries. The rich history and culture of France, the flavors and scents of India, and the sunrise over Machu Picchu in particular have left indelible impressions and show up regularly in her writing. Her passion for yarn has resulted in an overflowing stash and more projects than she’ll probably finish in a lifetime, but that has yet to stop her from buying more. Her orchid collection has outgrown her office and spilled over into the rest of her house (much to her children’s dismay), but that hasn’t stopped her from adding to her collection or from resuscitating any unhappy ones she finds. When she isn’t writing, knitting, or poking at her orchids, she spends her time marveling at her two teenagers, who never cease to amaze her with their capacity for love and acceptance and sports—they certainly didn’t get that from her!—and their refusal to accept injustice of any kind—she hopes they got that from her.  Visit Ariel: Website: www.arieltachna.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ArielTachna Email: [e-mail]

Book preview

Rediscovery

MICHAEL paid his registration for the Houston Gay Gamers Convention and picked up the schedule. Even though he was a local, he’d decided to stay at the hotel so he wouldn’t have to worry about how late he stayed up or how much he drank if the partying got wild. He’d been to cons where everyone was in bed by midnight, but not many. Staying up ’til four or five—or not going to sleep at all—was far more likely. He could afford a couple of nights at the Holiday Inn, even the one across from the Galleria.

A closer look at the schedule showed nothing starting before later that night, so he took a moment to wander toward the dealers’ room. He hoped to pick up a new dice bag and a few other things, and he’d found great deals in dealers’ rooms, people selling old games and magazines, things he couldn’t find anywhere any more without paying far more than he could afford to spend.

He walked into the largish ballroom, impressed at the number of dealers. The room hadn’t been this large or this full the previous year, which raised his hopes for the potential success of his search. Other than the few practical items he needed, he didn’t have a set shopping list so much as a wish list of things to buy if he found them. The more vendors, the better in that respect. The T-shirt booth always caught his eye because of the hilarious, sometimes irreverent sayings on them, but he had enough T-shirts since he could only wear them on the weekends. His job didn’t require him to wear a tie, but he had to wear a dress shirt to work every day, and that generally meant not wearing a brightly colored T-shirt underneath. He worked his way around the room, checking out the selection of other merchandise until the smell of leather caught his attention.

Looking up, he saw a new addition from last year, a booth full of leather corsets, vests, and other fetish gear. He shuddered slightly. He was a live-and-let-live-kind of guy for the most part, but the kink community still made him uncomfortable. The one run-in he’d had with them in college had left a bad taste in his mouth, even several years later. The man working the booth started toward him, but Michael moved on quickly, not meeting his eyes. He had no desire to end up some dominant’s fucktoy.

The next booth caught his eye, though, and he stopped to look at the collection of books for sale.

What do you like to read?

The question startled him from his perusal of the covers, which ranged from evocative to provocative. I’m sorry? he said.

What do you like to read? the woman behind the table asked again. We have such a wide variety of genres that I always ask, so if someone has a particular interest, I can point out some books they might like.

Oh, well, a little bit of everything, I guess, Michael said. What do you have?

We publish gay romance, as I’m sure you’ve figured out, the woman continued, but beyond that, we have historicals, mysteries, paranormal if you like vampires or shapeshifters, sci-fi, and of course the simple contemporary romances.

Wow, I didn’t know there were books like this out there, Michael said.

Take your time, pick them up, read the backs, the woman continued. Ask questions if you’d like. I’ve read most of the books on the table, and my friend who stepped out for a minute has read the ones I haven’t, so if you want an opinion or more information on any of the books, we can provide it.

Thanks, Michael said, picking up the book that had first caught his eye. The woman turned her attention back to her computer, so he didn’t feel like she was hovering. He looked at a couple more, finding the kind of love stories his sister loved to read, only with two men instead of a man and a woman. How much are the books?

Ten or fifteen, con special discount, the bookseller replied. Twenty to thirty-three percent off the list price.

Before he could ask another question, two small children, no more than two and four, came running past him. Edward! Patricia! Wait for me!

The children paid no attention, running behind the booth and into the arms of the bookseller. Aunt Kelly!

She hugged them both before handing them crayons and paper to draw on. They